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In 1969 I began dreaming of a world in which Love was the foundation. References to love abounded in the youth culture. I have never given up that dream.

Todd Rundgren wrote “Love Is the Answer” for his band Utopia. It is the closing track on their 1977 album Oops! Wrong Planet. Although Utopia's version did not reach the music charts, a cover version by England Dan & John Ford Coley reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in May, 1979 and spent two weeks atop the Billboard adult contemporary chart.

It was the England Dan & John Ford Coley cover that wormed its way into my emotional subconscious, I’m sure. Almost thirty years later it wormed its way our again in a graphic image that featured “Love Is The Answer”. I still like the simplicity of the image.

There were a few of other contributing threads to this project. Ten years ago a friend who runs a health and nutrition/weight control business asked me to help her create affirmation cards, which she distributed to her clients. They cheered them on and reminded them of their purpose. A couple of years ago instead of making a new image to send out at Christmas I created Illumination Tickets just to see what would happen. A number of folks reported that they did experience small moments of illumination. I attributed those results to simply bringing the idea to the foreground of their minds. The final thread in the tapestry was seeing the Smile Card project of KindSpring about a year ago.

Weave all of those strands together and last year I started creating a series of Love Is The Answer cards in the 2” x 3.5” US standard business card size. Each featured a common cultural greeting, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year etc. or a simple message on one side and simply the assertion that Love Is The Answer on the backside. After a few months and several holidays went by I’d given out about 600 of them, many to random strangers. The responses were almost always positive and ranged from smiles and nods of appreciation to the occasional person who would enfold me in a huge hug.

I had so much fun that I’m offering them to anyone who wishes to use them. They will reinforce the idea of Love in our everyday lives. The details on how to get and use the source files will be found in the post below, “How to Download and Print Love Answer Cards”. I’ll also be offering a free (no strings attached) ‘sampler’ of eight cards, two each of four of the general cards.

There will be more designs forthcoming depending on the demands on my time and when inspiration strikes. In fact I’m already working on “Mindfulness Now!” If anybody else wished to design some I’d love it!